Personality in Adulthood

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Traditionally, theories of personality and adult development were concerned with predicting the changes that personalitywould necessarily undergo during the aging process. During the 1970s, and continuing to the present day, several major longitudinal studiest the authors' among them provided for the first time a scientific basis for evaluating these assumptions concerning personality change. To the initial surprise of many, those findings revealed an extraordinary degree of stability: personality apparently changes little in most people after the age of 30.In this volume a thoroughgoing revision of the authors' earlier book, Emerging Lives, Enduring Dispositions, noted researchers Robert McCrae and Paul Costa reverse the classic question and ask instead how enduring dispositions affect the processes of aging and shape the individual's life course. By utilizing the Five-Factor Model, which represents a dramatic advance since the earlier book was published, this book accommodates virtually all traits identified in common speech and in scientific theories of personality. By studying these five factors across the life span, one can present a virtually complete account of what happens to personality as men and women age.Using all available empirical data to substantiate a stability model of personality, the book:* Critically reviews theories of personality and adult development* Explains the logic behind the scientific assessment of personality* Analyzes the separation of age-related changes form birth cohort differences and other artifacts* Examines cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of age and personality* Considers alternative explanations for the findings of stability* Points to new research directionsThe work was written for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals who wish an introduction to the topic. It is ideal as a supplementary text in a variety of courses, including adult or life-span development, personality theory and research, and personality development. For basic and clinical psychologists, it is the best introduction available to the Five-Factor Model of Personality.

Robert R. McCrae, Ph.D., is Research Psychologist at the Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland. He is author of more than 100 chapters and journal articles on personality, stress, coping, and aging, and is co-author of the NEO Personality Inventory. He is also a member of the Gerontological Society of America and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Paul T. Costa, Jr., Ph.D., is Chief, Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, and is Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has served as Consulting Editor for such journals as Psychology and Aging and The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is Past-President of the American Psychological Association's Division of Aging and Adult Development.